Chelsea Manning will be free in May!
Category Archives: Uncategorized
ADA
BY ABBY HIGGS ISSUE 193, WHAT LIT THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013 1.) Ada is beautiful from any angle. The proof is in her OkCupid photos. My favorite: an aerial-view headshot, half of her face is obstructed by the edge of the photograph. A soft gaze. Smooth features. Her lips are pressed together. Is she being coy? Expressing apathy? HerContinue reading “ADA”
I Know This Song
It’s hard to conjure Indiana sensations in a Baltimore row house surrounded by seagulls. But that’s exactly what I’m trying to do right now. I’m struggling to muster up the feeling of morning at my parents’ house, sneaking outside for a cigarette to the sparrows singing in disgust—“No smoking, no smoking!”—before climbing on my bike,Continue reading “I Know This Song”
Six Hours and a CAT Scan
I used to be more athletic. A lot more athletic. But I spent a few years treating my body in a fashion similar to curing an octopus — bashing it against a wall. Strange to call such an act of brutality “curing.” In fact, at the age of 21, during a particularly rough indoorContinue reading “Six Hours and a CAT Scan”
The Red Pudding
Red and pink pudding strewn across the asphalt on what is now a Jackson Pollack-ified Baltimore street. It is night time and the rat skitters past an orange alley cat snapping peevishly at its own haunch. A train lays on its horn a half-mile away, thirty yards away, a few feet away, close enough now toContinue reading “The Red Pudding”
An Expanding List of Observations I Make in my Waking Life
1.) Lately, bus rides feel eerily similar to the short, drifty trips I make each night between waking life and sleep. The lighting is the same flashy colors – the burnt-red-blood-purple of the back of my eyelids pierced, occasionally, by sun slants and shifting shapes. At a stop sign, a man outside the window isContinue reading “An Expanding List of Observations I Make in my Waking Life”
Possibilities
(One of my personal favorites) Possibilities by Wislawa Szymborska, Recipient of The Nobel Prize in Literature, 1996 I prefer movies. I prefer cats. I prefer the oaks along the Warta. I prefer Dickens to Dostoyevsky. I prefer myself liking people to myself loving mankind. I prefer keeping a needle and thread on hand, justContinue reading “Possibilities”
Steak, Peas, Potatoes, Ritalin
From Urbanite Baltimore’s 2009 “Emerging Writers” issue: Brandi shoved herself through the rip tide of students in the corridor, extending a jazz hand toward me. I glanced away, pretending not to notice her sprawled fingers in my face. “Oh my God,” she said as she squeezedContinue reading “Steak, Peas, Potatoes, Ritalin”
The Curious Case of the Floating Cowboy Hat
“Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable.” -Albert Camus I know this sensation: a propulsion within my rib cage, impelled by dissentient emotions — mostly anger and joy. The anger brought on by thoughts like gathering bacteria; at first, one solitary thought — “I’m not doing anything worthwhile right now” — madeContinue reading “The Curious Case of the Floating Cowboy Hat”
An Expanding List of Words I Hesitate to Utter
1.) Miracle. It’s too strong. Too immaculate. Reminiscent of zealous preachers in ivory pulpits, their bald heads shining, sweaty, as they bless the approaching parishioners who saunter through the pews like walking dead. “You are healed, my child! It’s a miracle! You are a miracle of God!” No, that word doesn’t jive with me. When someone tellsContinue reading “An Expanding List of Words I Hesitate to Utter”
Slow Clap Abby 